At Chicago January 19th, 8:30 PM

Well, we asked for development. The Forum consensus was that we were happy to lose games for the sake of development. This is harder than it looks. I hate losing, I know the team hates it, but we are "developing".....aren't we???? I'm about to go and cry myself to sleep.

Well, we asked for development. The Forum consensus was that we were happy to lose games for the sake of development. This is harder than it looks. I hate losing, I know the team hates it, but we are "developing".....aren't we???? I'm about to go and cry myself to sleep.

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Have a good hard cry, cause just giving Afflalo and Stuckey 8 minutes each ain't getting any development accomplished.

Lucked out on the game, flipping through channels forgot I got WGN, and got to watch the game.

Then the pain came. Other than CB, we played like crap. Flip panicked, and refused to give the starters any rest except for Rip when Hayes starting getting hot; and Sheed when the refs called him for one too many fouls.

Observations:
CB is chippy, gotta love it, especially that he gets away with it so much.
JMax is in a downward spiral. It seems teams are adjusting to his play. His shots are getting blocked; ticky tack fouls; and poor decisions.
Flip needs to play the bench, even in bad moments. Hayes can score, Stuckey can score. Hermann can play D. We have depth, no time to play scared just because we're down in the 2nd quarter.

Well, we asked for development. The Forum consensus was that we were happy to lose games for the sake of development. This is harder than it looks. I hate losing, I know the team hates it, but we are "developing".....aren't we???? I'm about to go and cry myself to sleep.

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Losing does not = developing. The young guys barely played. The core guys are playing big minutes and we're still losing. Amir never plays, tonight was no different. AA/Stuckey COMBINE for 16 minutes. In what way is that developing? The Pistons aren't losing games because of the rooks. They're not always helping a whole lot, but the starters are back to being unfocused and looking tired. All the while, Flip continues to press all the wrong buttons.

Losing does not = developing. The young guys barely played. The core guys are playing big minutes and we're still losing. Amir never plays, tonight was no different. AA/Stuckey COMBINE for 16 minutes. In what way is that developing? The Pistons aren't losing games because of the rooks. They're not always helping a whole lot, but the starters are back to being unfocused and looking tired. All the while, Flip continues to press all the wrong buttons.

Lucked out on the game, flipping through channels forgot I got WGN, and got to watch the game.

Then the pain came. Other than CB, we played like crap. Flip panicked, and refused to give the starters any rest except for Rip when Hayes starting getting hot; and Sheed when the refs called him for one too many fouls.

Observations:
CB is chippy, gotta love it, especially that he gets away with it so much.
JMax is in a downward spiral. It seems teams are adjusting to his play. His shots are getting blocked; ticky tack fouls; and poor decisions.
Flip needs to play the bench, even in bad moments. Hayes can score, Stuckey can score. Hermann can play D. We have depth, no time to play scared just because we're down in the 2nd quarter.

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Just to clarify, Saunders got scared with us even this time. Scared that the bench would show something maybe, so he would have to keep playing them? He never should have taken Stuckey out of the game in a tie game.

So Tay gets 4 baskets, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists in 42 minutes. I don't see how Playing AJ 10 minutes is going to hurt this team. Either way, we lose the game............I would even play the guy who looks like SAMPSON more..........

14 point final quarter from our high powered offense. 16 points vs. Sacramento. Is it the players or the system?

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It is the system...........they seem to stand around when things get tough in a game.....when tay has the ball...he holds it until 5 seconds then someone has to put up a bad shot to beat the clock. It happens over and over again.

So Tay gets 4 baskets, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists in 42 minutes. I don't see how Playing AJ 10 minutes is going to hurt this team. Either way, we lose the game............I would even play the guy who looks like SAMPSON more..........

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Exactly.......just look at the game again.....tay looks like a tired old man out there. Look at his facial expressions.........far too many minutes

I propose another explanation, why flip is flip: coaches work is to demand always more than has accomplished(at least in pro sport). And playing struggling startes to 40-s is maybe a message: wanna rest? then play well! bench doesn't have to clean away starters sh!t. Bench is there for helping, but starters have responsibility(so their work is to clean away bench's sh!t too).

But all this we are writing here is purely hypothetical, of course. None of us has seen "kitchen's side of coaching"

This was a coaching loss. Another failed attempt at cutting a very deserving player, Afflalo, out of the rotation. Hey, Flip, good job of bringing him in, but next game, drop the non-sense. Play Afflalo a lot.
I highly doubt it, cause as of yet, Saunders won't admit there is such a thing as fatigue, but just maybe, just maybe, Saunders will get it after this one. Do what Dumars wants, play the young guys.

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Way, way too easy. I was calling for Flip's head after the playoffs last year, but in the end, it wasn't Flip last night but the starting frontline who shot 8 for 26, it wasn't Flip who missed ten free throws and a dozen three point shots, or turned the ball over 14 times.

Yeah, it was a back to back, a whole 45 minute airplane ride away. These guys have got to be able to play two heavy minutes games back to back and still come out with a little pride and spunk.

Last night wasn't a scheduling loss, not a coaching loss. It was the best starting five in the league just not showing up.

Telling sequence: Tay had Noah on him and tried to drive and could not get by him. Hemmingway could not describe his futile attempt at dribbling. It looked like an amputee trying to dribble with their stub leg. I would have to think for a while to come up with a 3 who could not drive on Noah. Noah, by the way, would look great sitting at the end of DET's bench.

Sheed had 2 fouls in the 1st half and ends up guarding Nocioni. You have to know he's probably going to pick up a cheapie there. To open the 2nd half he's guarding Smith when Ben is out there. If you are so dependent on these guys, can't you do these little things to hopefully maximize their time on the floor?

Why would you make the declaration that the rotation(?) is being trimmed if you didn't think that Stuckey could handle it? Honestly, since that announcement I've been rooting against them. I like the players but hate the team. I am tired of the pursuit of mediocrity.

There are too many players here for Flip. He laments what they can't do instead of taking advantage of what they can. A guy like AA is useless to Flip because he doesn't instinctively stand out by the 3 point line and throw shots up. It is comical to think of how he would use Bruce Bowen.

I don't know why, but this is heaven for Flip. He knows he is only a few more games like this from having some guys walk with permanent limps while others nod off on the bench. He gets paid the same regardless. Why work harder than he needs to?

Telling sequence: Tay had Noah on him and tried to drive and could not get by him. Hemmingway could not describe his futile attempt at dribbling. It looked like an amputee trying to dribble with their stub leg. I would have to think for a while to come up with a 3 who could not drive on Noah. Noah, by the way, would look great sitting at the end of DET's bench.

Sheed had 2 fouls in the 1st half and ends up guarding Nocioni. You have to know he's probably going to pick up a cheapie there. To open the 2nd half he's guarding Smith when Ben is out there. If you are so dependent on these guys, can't you do these little things to hopefully maximize their time on the floor?

Why would you make the declaration that the rotation(?) is being trimmed if you didn't think that Stuckey could handle it? Honestly, since that announcement I've been rooting against them. I like the players but hate the team. I am tired of the pursuit of mediocrity.

There are too many players here for Flip. He laments what they can't do instead of taking advantage of what they can. A guy like AA is useless to Flip because he doesn't instinctively stand out by the 3 point line and throw shots up. It is comical to think of how he would use Bruce Bowen.

I don't know why, but this is heaven for Flip. He knows he is only a few more games like this from having some guys walk with permanent limps while others nod off on the bench. He gets paid the same regardless. Why work harder than he needs to?

Telling sequence: Tay had Noah on him and tried to drive and could not get by him. Hemmingway could not describe his futile attempt at dribbling. It looked like an amputee trying to dribble with their stub leg. I would have to think for a while to come up with a 3 who could not drive on Noah. Noah, by the way, would look great sitting at the end of DET's bench.

Sheed had 2 fouls in the 1st half and ends up guarding Nocioni. You have to know he's probably going to pick up a cheapie there. To open the 2nd half he's guarding Smith when Ben is out there. If you are so dependent on these guys, can't you do these little things to hopefully maximize their time on the floor?

Why would you make the declaration that the rotation(?) is being trimmed if you didn't think that Stuckey could handle it? Honestly, since that announcement I've been rooting against them. I like the players but hate the team. I am tired of the pursuit of mediocrity.

There are too many players here for Flip. He laments what they can't do instead of taking advantage of what they can. A guy like AA is useless to Flip because he doesn't instinctively stand out by the 3 point line and throw shots up. It is comical to think of how he would use Bruce Bowen.

I don't know why, but this is heaven for Flip. He knows he is only a few more games like this from having some guys walk with permanent limps while others nod off on the bench. He gets paid the same regardless. Why work harder than he needs to?

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Sorry, but source of complacency was that players (i.e. starters) thought like "we've been there( in finals), seen that all, don 't worry coach, we know everything what we need to know."

And all pistons fans (not only in this forum) complained about such attitude and cursed flip 'cuz he didn't ride harder on players.

And NOW you're complaining that flip demand too much!! IMO this demanding more is the only way how to get rid of complacency: those starters(maybe bench too) need to learn that they are not invincible, that opponents doesn't care that "they have been there-blah-blah-blah".